7. Title, abstract and figure(s) to be published with the abstract (as indicated on supplemental sheet A) 

The international application must contain an abstract and a title (see also GL/PCT‑EPO F‑II, 2 and 3). If the search report is published together with the application (A1 publication), the examiner indicates on supplemental sheet A:

(i)the approval or amendment of the text of the abstract, which should not exceed 150 words; 

(ii)the approval or amendment of the title of the invention (see also GL/PCT‑EPO H‑III, 7); and

(iii)the figure which is to accompany the abstract. It is possible to indicate multiple figures from various sheets, but the overall size should not exceed what could fit on an A4 sheet. 

If the application is to be published before the international search report is prepared (A2 publication, see GL/EPO B‑X, 4), the examiner only needs to prepare the classification data. Titles, abstracts and figures are published as submitted by the applicant.

It is to be noted that first filings (i.e. applications not claiming priority from an earlier application) cannot be published as A2.